


Love is Blinding

by orphan_account



Series: Asamagica [2]
Category: Asagao Academy: Normal Boots Club, Hidden Block (Video Blogging RPF), NormalBoots, PBG Hardcore series
Genre: Anxiety, Cuddling & Snuggling, Hair Brushing, I promise the first part connects to the rest of it just trust me, M/M, Magical Girls, fluffy as all heck, minor mentions of dysphoria
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-19
Updated: 2018-09-19
Packaged: 2019-07-14 13:25:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,174
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16041353
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: Being the only one unable to use magic in his social circle has left Peebs with a bit of anguish, but with Jeff, Peebs finally feels like he's enough.





	Love is Blinding

**Author's Note:**

> So... Asamagica... I'm still working on this because I adore this AU and Tomate and I have worked super hard on it. But, I'm thinking I'll have to redo some of the stories already published for it, 'cause we've made a lot of changes and general improvements in the past few months. I might end up deleting everything but Salvage, because we've probably changed almost everyone's backstories too much for at least half of those stories to make much sense anymore, but Salvage I can probably, er, salvage with a few edits. 
> 
> But enough about that. This is some good old fashioned PB & Joof with a side of exposition. Hopefully everyone enjoys it!

Magic Beasts aren’t to be trusted. His mom had told him this all his life. Especially not Kitsunes, those were the most dangerous of all. They were deceptive, and any wrong move around one would make everything go bad. 

 

Peebs knew he’d been attacked by one when he was young. He still had a red mark across his chest from the event, even. He remembered little about it, though, save for how warm it had suddenly gotten in the room, and the glowing sparks coming from his mother’s hands.

 

They’d had to move after that, or more accurately, they fled. They left behind everything that couldn’t fit in their car and didn’t stay in one place for more than a night for a month until finally they got a place next door to some old friends of his mom’s. He hadn’t really minded; the new house was bigger than their old one, and their new neighbors had a kid around his age, but he did miss his old friends, not to mention his mom became a bit distant after the whole incident.

 

Mom was working on something to protect him, she told him that much. But, she wouldn’t say what it was, and she wouldn’t even listen to him begging for her to teach him how to protect himself. He wanted to learn the magic she’d used to protect him, but he was always told he couldn’t. “It’s too dangerous,” she’d say every time. “Please trust me.”

 

And so he kept any dreams of magic confined to his room, when sometimes, if he was sure no one was around to see, he’d try and replicate the bits of magic he’d seen his mother perform. He could never even begin to pull it off. Was there some trick to it he didn’t know? Or did he not have magic in the first place? Either way, it started to just make him sad, trying all he could with no result, but he didn’t stop. Whatever his mom had in mind that would protect him, it was taking forever, and he couldn’t help but think he’d just end up unable to protect himself when it counted most. 

 

He wasn’t sure if he should feel better or worse when he started meeting more people with magic. On one hand, he knew he wasn’t alone in all of this, but on the other, he felt more alone than ever. Before his first year at Asagao had even ended, he already felt like he was the only one in his friend group who didn’t have magic. All of Normal Boots and Hidden Block, and even friends outside of it! Heck, Dean had been his neighbor for years before he learned he had powers too.

 

But he couldn’t feel too sorry for himself! He had the best friends ever! Jirard was relentlessly sweet, Satch was smart as all heck but still patient with him when he didn’t quite get what he was saying, Jared was well, Jared, Luke was nice and encouraging…

 

And of course, he had Jeff, his best friend in the entire world. Jeff was incredible, really! So nice and so good and so perfect! It didn’t take long for them to become impossibly close, but it took him far, far too long to realize just how close they were.

 

A few weeks into being friends, Jeff showed up at his door with streaming tears, brought on by how much he hated the long hair his parents wouldn’t let him cut. So, Peebs found some scissors and a tutorial online and set to attempting to remedy the problem himself. Somehow, he did an alright job, given that Jeff looked about a billion times more adorable with short hair. 

  
  


After that, they settled into a bit of a routine. During Jeff’s more emotional bouts, be it caused by dysphoria or stress or even just reading a sad article online, Peebs would be called up. Sometimes Jeff would do it himself, sometimes Ian would let him know, and sometimes Peebs would just hear a knock at his door and find Jeff there. 

 

No matter what was happening, Peebs seemed to have a knack for calming his Joofy down. He kept a bar of Jeff’s favorite chocolate, a hairbrush, a pair of scissors, and some scented candles on his bedside table for whenever he needed to help. Before long, he was a certifiable expert in helping ease his friend’s worries. 

 

He adored caring for his friend; relished their time alone, just quiet and curled up together. He hated seeing Jeff upset, but after the tears had dried up and they’d gotten settled in, he could think of nothing better. Sometimes they’d just sit there for hours, barely saying a word, the only noise being steady breathing, a few soft sighs if Peebs was still playing with his friend’s hair, and if he was really lucky, a gentle heartbeat. 

 

In some ways, the whole thing made him feel guilty. He shouldn’t ever enjoy any part of his friend’s suffering. But, as much as it hurt to see his tears or even a frown, part of him still wished he could comfort Jeff every night. Nothing was nicer than being able to hold him until that frown vanished and was replaced with a content smile. Did that make him a bad friend? 

 

That worry ate away at him for quite some time, but he tried to push it back. He needed to be there for Jeff, after all. But it had to break eventually, and break it did. 

 

It’d been a long day, and he was tired, so he felt the need to take a nap. And, with that nap, came a very odd dream. It was hazy at best, but he definitely dreamed he was holding Jeff, and he knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that he was very happy about that, at least in the dream. But upon waking up, he found himself cuddling a pillow and wracked with guilt. A happy dream, about comforting his upset friend? God, how awful could he be!

 

He couldn’t hold back the tears, or even bring himself to apologize when his roommate Dean awkwardly and hastily left the room. Actual, loud sobs kept coming out, and he couldn’t stop them. Jeff would hate him… He just knew it…

 

All he could do upon hearing a knock at the door was weakly call out “it’s open”. He assumed it was Dean coming back until he felt someone sitting down next to him and looked up. It was Jeff. Dread piled up in his throat and came out as a strangled sob as his friend offered a small smile. 

 

“Hey, it’s alright… Dean told me you were upset…”, Jeff assured him softly. “Don’t worry, I’m here… Do you want to talk about it?”

 

Gulping down his fear, Peebs tried to force it out. “I- I’m so sorry… You deserve so much better out of a friend…”, he mumbled. 

 

“Don’t talk that way about yourself!”, Jeff exclaimed, trying to move closer to him. “You’re wonderful, alright? You’re the best friend anyone could ever hope for, and especially for me…”

 

“B-but… I like it when I get to comfort you…”, he choked out. “I like when you smile and I get to brush your hair and when you fall asleep against me a-and-“

 

“So you’re saying you enjoy spending time with me?”, Jeff questioned. “Is that what you’re upset about?”

 

Peebs tried to figure out how to word it. “I- I like when you come over upset even though it makes me sad when you’re sad because I like making you happy and cuddling with you.”

 

He waited for the horror or disgust, but all he got was a loving hug. “Oh, Peebs… That’s so sweet!”, Jeff exclaimed. 

 

“I-it is?”, he stuttered out. “B-but I-“

 

The hug got a bit tighter, and Jeff started running circles on his back. “You like taking care of me and cuddling with me! That’s the sweetest thing ever!”, Jeff assured him. “Were you afraid that meant you liked me being upset or something? Cause it sounds to me like you just like when I’m happy and we’re together.”

 

A relieved sigh left him. “Yeah… I do like when you’re happy and close to me… Geeze, I must sound super dumb, getting all upset about nothing.”

 

Jeff shifted a bit, until Peebs was squarely in his lap. “It’s not dumb. I mean, you’ve made me feel better about way dumber stuff.”

 

“None of your stuff is dumb!”, Peebs insisted. “It’s important to you, so it isn’t dumb.”

 

He could feel Jeff’s little laugh from that all across his body, and it made him smile. “Not even the time I cried about leaving my school jacket in the classroom overnight?”

 

“That’s not dumb,” Peebs insisted. “I would have gotten upset about that too!”

 

Another little laugh reverberated through the air, and Peebs suddenly felt himself relaxing. It took a second for him to realize why, but once he did, he couldn’t help but giggle a bit. Jeff was brushing his hair, just like he’d do for him…

 

“That really does feel nice,” Peebs noted, leaning into it and letting his eyes droop shut. “You… you’re good at this…”

 

Jeff hummed a little. “I’m really glad; if I can be even half as good as you are, then you must be in heaven! Uh…” He trailed off. “Wait, um, do you think maybe you could lay down? You’re taller than I am, this is kind of hard.”

 

Peebs carefully did so. “Is that any better?”, he asked as he settled into Jeff’s lap. 

 

“Just one thing,” Jeff mumbled. A pillow was carefully placed under his head. “There! Perfect!”

 

It really was perfect. Being all comfortable and loved was the best thing he could imagine! His chest felt all fluttery, but not in a nervous way. No, this was just pure delight! He could have easily fallen asleep right there if not for just one thing. His eyes were drawn to his Jeff, and his heartbeat started to pick up. How could he not have seen this before? It was so obvious now, here, laying in Jeff’s lap, but it should have really been crystal clear long before that.

 

Jeff had fangs. He didn’t know how he hadn’t seen them before, but yep, looking at him from below, they were clear as daylight. His teeth were super pointy, definitely inhumanly so. 

 

He tried not to let anything show on his face. If Jeff wasn’t human, it would be super rude to point that out, right? Surely if he hadn’t said something about it sooner, there was a good reason. Maybe Jeff was super self conscious about it, or maybe he didn’t even know himself! 

 

Besides, Jeff was his best friend! Even if he was a Kitsune, or some other sort of magical being, that didn’t change anything about him. He was still the sweetest person he knew, he was still the best hugger, he was still the guy whose eyes would shine like stars when he smiled, he was still the guy who couldn’t let a single animal go past him without being pet… He was still Jeff! Jeff would never hurt him or anyone in a million years! He made him feel like he was worth the world, even if he couldn’t do as much as his friends. 

 

“Joofy, I love you…”, Peebs mumbled, smiling to himself. 

 

His forehead was duly kissed. “I love you too, Peebles,” Jeff assured him softly. “You always make me so happy! To be honest I… I’ve always felt sort of… deprived. It’s hard to explain, but it’s like I’m always hungry, except it’s more for attention than food.”

 

Peebs’ heart ached just hearing that. “Aw, Jeff… I’m so sorry! You must be really touch starved…”

 

“Don’t be sorry,” Jeff softly said. “I don’t feel that way around you. You make me feel all full and safe and happy! And, I just hope I can make you as happy as you make me!”

 

He snuggled a bit closer. “Jeff, you make me happier than anyone or anything else could. I wanna make sure you’re always happy, okay? Is there anything I could do to help with that?”

 

Jeff squeaked a bit. He had to note that it didn’t sound like a human noise at all, more like a frantic bat. “Oh, you don’t have to do anything else! Although, I think it might be nice for both of us if maybe we cuddled more when I’m not upset… And, I’d really like to hold you like this more!”

 

Face reddening, Peebs giggled a bit. “That sounds like the best thing ever! Please, just drop in here whenever! I’m always happy to give you my time and attention!”

 

“And the same goes for you,” Jeff added. “I wanna take care of my Peebles!”

 

“You do, Joofy.” He kissed Jeff’s cheek on a whim. Just a little friendly gesture. “You always do.”

**Author's Note:**

> Full props to Tomate for the inspiration for this, specifically with Peebs cutting Jeff's hair because that was their idea and it's the best idea anyone has ever had ever.


End file.
